New Delhi: Gautam Gambhir’s plain-speak and Ajit Agarkar’s lucidity is set to make for a heady combo as the new head coach and the chairman of selectors looked completely in sync while spelling out, in no uncertain terms, that days of cherry-picking series by citing workload management could be over.
They explained certain tough calls while in a few things, they were subtle yet said enough to allow people to read between the lines.
Physically, neither Gambhir nor Agarkar have an imposing presence but ask anyone in the periphery of Indian cricket and people will swear by the fact that these are two individuals with sharp and informed takes, which don’t change readily.
As they put up a united front in their first joint media interaction, it was clear that they were ready to put their money where their mouths were.
Technically, it might seem that Agarkar enters his second year of chairmanship but perhaps like Gambhir, this is also a fresh start in which the duo can create a road-map for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
So what was the biggest takeaway from the Gambhir-Agarkar joint press briefing ahead of the tour of Sri Lanka?
Workload management seems to be the biggest one.
The prickly word in Indian cricket will again dominate air space but this time, it is crystal clear that rules will be different for batters and bowlers.
“I’ve said it before, workload management for someone like (Jasprit) Bumrah is important. If you are a batter who is in good form, might as well play all the games,” Gambhir was as straight as ramrod in his reply when asked about his take on the issue.
It was widely believed that both ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma and team’s premier batter Virat Kohli will skip the three games in Sri Lanka but their presence ultimately is an indicator that both the seniors will probably play as many series as possible.
“Now that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will play only two formats, I expect them to be available for most games,” Gambhir addressed the issue with a lot of clarity just like chairman Agarkar was up and ready to explain what went against Hardik Pandya, who was considered to be a natural successor to Rohit, at least in the T20 format.
“You (would) want a captain that’s going to be more likely to play all the games,” one couldn’t get a more crystal clear answer to a pointed question.
What was more refreshing was that unlike selection committee chairmen of the past, Agarkar just didn’t go by his gut feeling about the leadership qualities but also took the view of the change room.
“”Why Surya was made captain? Because he is one of the deserving candidates. The one we know has been around the dressing room over the last one year, you get feedback from the dressing room a lot.
“He has got a good cricketing brain and he is still one of the best T20 batters in the world,” Agarkar elaborated.
In the 27-minute media conference, one thing was reiterated time and again. Stars can no longer pick and choose.
While acknowledging that a player of Pandya’s skill-set is a rarity, Agarkar made it clear that the selection committee cannot be taken for granted.
“Fitness, obviously, has been a challenge for him over the last few years and then it becomes a little bit more difficult for him and even as selectors,” he said.
Agarkar handled the tricky query on KL Rahul being ignored for captaincy with similar eloquence.
“I wasn’t there when KL was superseded; I wasn’t the selector firstly.”
Then there was the issue of Duleep Trophy and Agarkar was clear that if not all, most of the Indian Test team contenders will be playing at least one match of the tournament before India’s rare season of 10 Tests commences on September 19.
In case of Ravindra Jadeja, Agarkar was clear that the senior all-rounder wasn’t dropped from the ODI team but his explanation did indicate that one might not see two players with pretty identical skill-sets in ODI set-up.
“It would have been really pointless to take both him and Akshar for this short series…So, no, not at all dropped,” he said on Jadeja.
And then Gambhir had to address the elephant in the room – the conjectures about his relationship with Kohli, something the straight-shooter rejected as “good for TRP”.
Gambhir might be perceived as a ‘My Way or High Way’ man but his messaging was that he wants to be the agent that keeps the dressing room happy.
And what qualifies as a happy dressing room?
“A winning dressing room,” as Gambhir put it.
